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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: land · face · lean · chest · court · stick · capital · content

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. land — a country
  4. court — for sport
  5. stick — to attach or keep to
  6. face — part of the head
  7. content — happy
  8. lean — to bend
  9. court — of a king
  10. face — to confront
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. chest — of your body
  13. capital — a city
  14. land — to come down
  15. chest — of your body
  16. capital — money
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. land — ground
  19. content — the amount
  20. court — of law
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. chest — a box
  23. face — to point toward
  24. stick — a piece of wood

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com